Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Biometals. 2024 Jun;37(3):545-559. doi: 10.1007/s10534-023-00565-y. Epub 2023 Dec 19.
We are now moving into the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) era where more antibiotic resistant bacteria are now the majority, a problem brought on by both misuse and over use of antibiotics. Unfortunately, the antibiotic development pipeline dwindled away over the past decades as they are not very profitable compounds for companies to develop. Regardless researchers over the past decade have made strides to explore alternative options and out of this we see revisiting historical infection control agents such as toxic metals. From this we now see a field of research exploring the efficacy of metal ions and metal complexes as antimicrobials. Such antimicrobials are delivered in a variety of forms from metal salts, alloys, metal complexes, organometallic compounds, and metal based nanomaterials and gives us the broad term metalloantimicrobials. We now see many effective formulations applied for various applications using metals as antimicrobials that are effective against drug resistant strains. The purpose of the document here is to step aside and begin a conversation on the issues of use of such toxic metal compounds against microbes. This critical opinion mini-review in no way aims to be comprehensive. The goal here is to understand the benefits of metalloantimicrobials, but also to consider strongly the disadvantages of using metals, and what are the potential consequences of misuse and overuse. We need to be conscious of the issues, to see the entire system and affect through a OneHealth vision.
我们现在正进入抗菌药物耐药性（AMR）时代，越来越多的抗生素耐药细菌成为主流，这是抗生素的滥用和过度使用带来的问题。不幸的是，过去几十年抗生素的研发管道逐渐枯竭，因为它们对公司来说并不是很有利润的化合物。尽管如此，过去十年的研究人员在探索替代方案方面取得了长足的进步，我们看到了重新审视历史上的感染控制剂，如有毒金属。由此，我们看到了一个研究领域正在探索金属离子和金属配合物作为抗菌剂的功效。这些抗菌剂以各种形式存在，包括金属盐、合金、金属配合物、有机金属化合物和基于金属的纳米材料，统称金属抗菌剂。我们现在看到许多有效的制剂被应用于各种应用中，将金属作为抗菌剂用于对抗耐药菌株。本文的目的是退一步，就使用此类有毒金属化合物对抗微生物的问题展开讨论。本批判性观点综述文章绝不是全面的。其目的是了解金属抗菌剂的好处，但也要强烈考虑使用金属的缺点，以及滥用和过度使用的潜在后果。我们需要意识到这些问题，从一个“One Health”的视角来看待整个系统及其影响。
